Chapter 51
SHINSO KEN
I watched with a much-relieved heart as red encompassed me. The last attack from pain would have ended my life if not for Tsunade-sama. She had protected me from the brunt of the attack as she had shielded me with her own body. The ground in front of me cracked, and with a small explosion, a person jumped out.
"Do not be alarmed, and I am here to help…." I cut off his words, for only one shinobi could use Susanoo like this.
"I know who you are, Itachi Uchiha," I said as Itachi turned his head to look me in the eye. The Mangekyo Sharingan shined brightly in his eyes. I gave him a small nod, and then he looked ahead at Pain once more.
Pain was staring straight at Itachi.
"You should stop this Pain, retreat, and I promise you that I will not pursue," Itachi spoke up in a smooth tone. He still wore Akatsuki's red and black cloak.
"I had thought you to be smarter than this, Itachi. Betraying the Akatsuki. You must understand that there is no escaping from your fate now," Pain spoke up and was about to continue when the space beside him rippled.
"Be careful. This new opponent is a tricky one," Itachi muttered to me, and I nodded as Obito appeared beside Pain. His orange mask still covered his face as a single Sharingan was barely visible from the singular hole.
"I must say that I had not expected this from you, Itachi. I thought we were comrades on this journey towards world peace." Obito began to speak up in his Madara-style voice. And I could feel Itachi's tenseness at his arrival.
"Though, it seems that it was not meant to be. However, do remember that your countdown has begun. I will make sure that you won't have to wait like Orochimaru to face the consequences of your betrayal!"
And I saw Pain and Obito vanish in a swirl though not without an ominous warning.
"I will be coming for you!"
And then they were gone. I felt tension sheer tension leave me as I dropped to my knees, barely supporting myself with my sword. Itachi finally turned to look at me.
"Where is Sasuke?" I questioned him.
"He is safe," and I gave a small nod at that. The red skeletal condensation of the chakra around us began to fade away.
"So, it seems that you are also aware of the truth about me," and I gave a nod at that as I began to walk off towards Tsunade-sama to check on her injuries. She had taught me the basics of iryo-ninjutsu. Hopefully, they would work.
I placed my hand on her forehead to run a basic diagnostic scan. And the results were quite distressing, she needed medical attention, and she needed it now. She was having an internal hemorrhage, and without timely intervention, that could lead to shock.
And then death.
I placed my hands over her abdomen and closed my eyes to focus on the last bits of chakra circulating in my coils. With precise control, I separated the yin and the yang halves and focused on the yin part as I directed it through my tenketsu, making sure to purify it as it left my body to make sure she did not get chakra poisoning.
Then it invaded her vessels, and then I began using it to coerce her cells to divide more rapidly. Tsunade-sama herself could have done all this instantly so could Shizune-san, but this required quite a bit of time for him to pull off.
All this difficulty was heightened by his severely low reserves.
Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"You should stop now. If you use any more chakra, you will have chakra exhaustion yourself. Plus, it seems that help has arrived." Itachi muttered from behind, and I cut off my chakra and looked up to find three ANBU standing in front of me.
Alert and with their weapons drawn.
0000
UZUKI YUGAO
Yugao was alert. Her chakra rippled beneath her skin as she recognized the person standing behind Shinso.
"Step away from him, Itachi Uchiha!" she shouted as she readied her blade to confront the rogue Uchiha. Her two partners were ready as well.
All three of them had been shocked by the sheer volume of destruction. The huge crater in the middle of the forest spoke of the insane amount of skill and strength.
And the only person aside from Tsunade-sama, Kakashi, and Shinso they had found was the infamous clan killer himself.
'Had Itachi caused this much destruction? If so, then how?' but all such thoughts were for later. Because right now, they had a job to do as ANBU.
"I said step away, Itachi!" she screamed once more. Then Shinso finally spoke up.
"Stop. Stop. Stop. Itachi was not the one who caused this. He is an ally. He helped us!" the brown-haired kid screamed and Uzuki's eyes narrowed at that.
"Captain, the kid can be under a genjutsu," Goose added from the side.
"You can check him for a genjutsu, though I believe that you need to pay attention to the fifth Hokage. She is in need of urgent medical assistance," the clan-killer spoke up from his position as he took a single step back from the kid.
Goose closed his eyes as he focused his senses on Kurenai's student and, after a second or so, opened them once more.
"He is right. The kid is under no genjutsu and Hokage-sama needs a medic right now!" Goose's reply made her frown. Why was Itachi Uchiha helping them?
"Listen to me. Itachi is an ally. Right now, we need to get Tsuande-sama to a medic. As for Itachi, instead of killing him, put him under arrest and take him back to Konoha. When Tsunade-sama wakes up, she will clarify everything." Shinso spoke up.
Yugao glanced at the pale form of Tsunade-same and, with gritted teeth, looked towards the rogue Uchiha.
"Will you cooperate?" she asked him. And the man gave a small nod.
"All right," and she sheathed her blade and motioned for her partners to do the same. Then Goose and frog rushed toward the unconscious forms of Hokage-Sama and Kakashi Hatake as she moved toward Itachi.
"But let me tell you, if I see you move an inch out of line, I will cut you to pieces. Understood!" and the Uchiha simply smiled and gave her a small nod.
"Yes." I understand.
0000
SHIKAKU NARA
Shikaku was getting a headache as he read all the reports that were coming in. As the jonin commander in the absence of Tsunade-sama, he was coordinating the operation Pest Control' with the ANBU commander.
Lady Tsunade had not wanted him to involve the regular forces in operation, hence making his job much more difficult. Despite the Third Hokage shutting down ROOT, Danzo had kept the organization alive. Using it to carry out unsanctioned missions.
They had recovered the files from the hideouts as ANBU neutralized all the remaining ROOT operatives. The major portion of the operation was done. Now, only they had to wait for the return of Hokage-same.
Suddenly the door to his office was opened up; Shikaku looked up to find the ANBU commander entering his office. His porcelain mask was colored red, unlike regular porcelain, and shaped like a dragon.
"Our initial mission is complete, ANBU have done a full sweep, and I believe that we have neutralized all of the ROOT," the ANBU commander spoke up, and Shikaku heaved a sigh of relief.
"But I have received disturbing news from one of our border encampments."
Shikaku frowned at that. Maybe he had celebrated a little too early. At this, the ANBU commander took out a scroll and passed it to him. Shikaku opened the scroll and began to skim over it.
"The squad at the border sensed a massive chakra disturbance and have sent a team to investigate it. But what is bothering me is the sheer scale of the disturbance mentioned in the report."
And even Shikaku's eyes widened as he read over the predicted maginitude of the anomaly.
"This can not be right," Shikaku muttered as he read it over once more.
'The volume of chakra was equal or greater than a tailed beast.'
"That is not all. According to the report, this is the same direction in which we suspect Tsuande-sama to be in."
Shikaku's heart dropped at that. This was not good. Not good at all.
"Assemble another squad immediately and have them move out as backup. I will also be alerting all the forces to prepare for an emergency…"
"What kind of emergency!" came the question from a very familiar voice. Though, often that voice would be filled with mirth and joy.
Shikaku turned to see a shinobi standing at the window of his office. His white hair came out of his metallic hand, a headband with "Oil" stamped on it.
"Jiraiya-sama! When did you arrive in the village?" spoke up the ANBU commander, but the man was still looking at Shikaku with his questioning gaze as he stepped into the room.
"What kind of emergency are you talking about? And why is it that I can not sense Tsuande's chakra in the village," the Sanin asked him once more, and Shikaku slightly gulped, for he had never seen this serious side of Jiraiya-sama.
0000
JIRAIYA-THE TOAD SAGE
"And you let her go by herself," he almost screamed at the ANBU and Jonin commander. He had told Tsunade to contact him before taking on Danzo, but she had not. Instead, he had been contacted by Itachi about his identity getting revealed and his defection from Akatsuki.
"She is not alone. She has her apprentice and Kakashi Hatake with her," the ANBU commander spoke up. And Jiraiya shook his head at that. He could understand Tsuande's desire to involve as few people as she could, but this was not enough. Not nearly enough, considering that she could be facing both Orochimaru and Danzo.
He then turned to look at the ANBU commander.
"Tell me her last recorded heading and assemble squa…." But his words were cut off as the door to the office was knocked at quite violently. Jiraiya frowned as Shikaku spoke up.
"Enter." And a shinobi entered the room with a very dreaded face. Jiraiya saw him stop momentarily as he spotted him in the room before he began speaking up.
"Co-Commander, we have a situation at the gates! Hokage-sama has returned with her group and is in quite a critical situation!"
"Then move her to the hospital immediately! Why is she being held up!" Shikaku screamed from the side. The reporting shinobi gulped as he continued.
"I-its because of the shinobi with them. They have returned with UCHIHA ITACHI!"
"ITACHI!" both Shikaku and ANBU commander's muttered with surprise. And Jiraiya frowned as he immediately began to walk out.
"I will deal with this!" he said, giving both the commanders a glance as he vanished from the office in a blur, racing towards the gate.
"You better be fine, Tsunade. You better be fine."
Over the whole continent, all members of Akatsuki received a secretive message for an urgent meeting. A meeting that would define the future.
Obito stared at the Gedo Mazo statue as he realized that the whole plan had been derailed. All because of Konoha.
0000
Now, it was up to him to change the whole approach of the Akatsuki. Well, he did have new tools to play with now. And he turned to look at the back of the cave where stood another shinobi. A shinobi wearing a rounded pair of glasses.
The kingpin to his next plan was finally here.
"So, you are finally here," Obito began as the sound of footsteps increased.
"Kabuto, how would you like to finish your mentor's work?" Obito asked as the shinobi simply pushed up his glasses.
"I would be honored, Madara-sama!"
00000
Akatsuki has a new plan and a new member. And now the game is loading up for the big final arc.
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